Donald Traxler's Poetry: January 2021

Sunday, January 31, 2021

Saturday, January 30, 2021

Friday, January 29, 2021

My Eyes Are Not Blue

My eyes are not blue,

they are hazel, which genetically

is a form of brown.

I am of the hot-blooded

pre-mutation permutations,

the ancient nations,

who speak from the heart.

The Injun in me won't lie to you,

because lying is a form of disrespect.

The Jew in me will not stop studying,

because studying is a form of ascent.

The Pygmy in me, of ancient birth,

will not let you destroy the earth.

We, the brown-eyed part,

will speak to you from the heart.

Thursday, January 28, 2021

He Sees Far

He sees far, and not as others.

atsvyai gowatase inv, ale tla tsilv soidi.

ᎠᏨᏯᎢ ᎪᏩᏔᏎ ᎢᏅ, ᎠᎴ Ꮭ ᏥᎸ ᏐᎢᏗ.

Photo: Bodily Constrained, Spiritually Free

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

105,000 Visits, and One Very Busy Pirate

Hello again, dear readers. It has only taken seven days to go from 104,000 visits to 105,000. What I call "visits" are actually page-views, and we normally get about two thousand of them per month. To get one thousand in just seven days is pretty extraordinary, and the main reason for this head-spinning pace is pirate activity.

The blog has experienced at least some activity of this type almost from the very beginning. It was certainly happening by late 2017, when I finished my translations of Lalla's poetry. What I am seeing now, though, is different in scale and intensity (perhaps because they know that they have major competition in at least one other country. All I know is that some person or group is working very, very hard, almost 24/7. I hope they make a good profit on their theft, because that will be the amount of damages for which I will sue them.

My own work continues apace. My series "Notes on the Zohar" is now up to six parts. It's a huge project, though, and at my age I may need to rethink the size of it.

As usual, thanks to all of you for your continued interest and enthusiasm.

Monday, January 25, 2021

Notes on the Zohar VI

Most of the Zohar (Sefer ha-Zohar, Book of the Brightness), is written as a commentary on the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible/Tanakh). But it is a commentary like no other, written from a level of imagination, intuition, and mysticism that is truly astonishing.

We find, in my opinion, a great example of this intuitional level on the lower half of page 63 in my Soncino edition (page 15a in the Mantua edition): "There was indeed a 'brightness' (Zohar). The Most Mysterious struck its void, and caused this point to shine. This "beginning" then extended, and made for itself a palace for its honour and glory." And closer to the bottom of the same page: "The Zohar is that from which were created all the creative utterances through the extension of the point of this mysterious brightness." Higher on the page we are told that: "Beyond that point there is no knowable, and therefore it is called Reshith (beginning) . . ."

Another tradition, that called Advaita Vedanta, would tell us that the "brightness," the "beginning," before which there is "no knowable," can only be Consciousness, and that there is only Consciousness. The word "consciousness" does not appear anywhere in the Bible. Here, in the form of "brightness" and "beginning," the Zohar supplies that deficiency.

About three-quarters of the way down p. 64 (Mantua 15a-15b), we find something else that is remarkable: another reference to Hebrew vowel-points, anachronistic at the time of Simeon Bar Yohai. The three vowel points mentioned, "holem," "shureq," and "hireq," are even called by the names by which we still know them. Since pointed biblical texts only came into common use after about 800 CE, this shows that not only the Prologue, but also the rest of the Zohar, dates from the medieval period.

Saturday, January 23, 2021

Tryambic

Friday, January 22, 2021

He Stands on a Beach

He stands on a beach

that is no beach,

in the light of a sun

that is no sun,

where space has no reach,

and time, there is none.

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Notes on the Zohar V

As we continue reading the Prologue, many more rabbinical characters are introduced: Rab Hamnuna the Venerable, R. Yudai, R. Hiya, R. Jose, R. Eleazar (son of R. Simeon), R. Abba, Rabbi Simeon the son of Lakunya, R. Phineas, and possibly more that I have missed.

Each of these Rabbis gives one or more expositions of biblical verses. These expositions are exceedingly fanciful, and they themselves tend to become stories, so that the whole Prologue is a kind of Canterbury Tales of biblical exegesis.

I wanted to skip some of these fanciful expositions to get sooner to the end of the Prologue, but they have their charm and their magic, and I had to read every one of them.

It is well that I did, because on page 57 of my Soncino edition (13b of the Mantua edition), I found something quite interesting: a reference to the "slender stroke underneath the Yod" in the Divine Name. This, of course, would only be present in a pointed Hebrew text. The masoretes did most of their work between about 600 and 800 CE, at which time pointed biblical texts came into prominence. This reference to pointing would have been anachronistic in the early centuries CE, supposedly the time when Simeon ben Yohai lived. We can be sure, therefore that this Prologue is of medieval origin.

The Prologue ends quite abruptly and without warning, as though the author had had a heart attack and died. My theory is that the Prologue was written after the rest of the Zohar, and that the author died before he could finish it. If the author was Mosés de León, we know that his wife outlived him.

Quatrains of St. Jerome III - Truth-wagon (The Chariot)

Our truth-wagon is bogged down

in a fetid swamp

where lies abound

and credulous Fox-pups hunt the hounds.

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

"Who Are You?"

Chidaananda.

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

If the Physical Is a School

Monday, January 18, 2021

Consciousness Is Not Dependent

104,000 Visits, One Rash, and One Failed Coup

Today we are passing the milestone of 104,000 visits to this poetry, writing, and photography blog. Thank you all (even the pirates) for making that happen. The graphic below shows the sources of the visits in the last twenty-four hours. I'm not sure what it means.

As most of you know, I am a nudist/naturist. On January 5th I had a very busy day outside the house, and wore clothes all day, and kept them on between tasks, to avoid taking them off and putting them back on. Unfortunately, the clothes also chafed badly. The result was a painful groin rash, which I am still treating. If this sounds like nothing to you, you should try it some time, in Florida's humidity. Do not tell me that I have to wear clothes. In this climate, clothes are my enemy. Don't be shocked when you see me in my natural, everyday state.

On the following day, January 6th, we had an attempted coup d'état in the United States of America, instigated by our outgoing President. Sounds like a third-world country, doesn't it? That story is far from over, but I can tell you that it has not been an easy time.

As usual, thanks to all of you for your continued interest and enthusiasm.

Sunday, January 17, 2021

It's a Quarter to Four

It's a quarter to four,

and I've opened the door

to the land with no time or space.

There's nothing to see

except you and me,

and perhaps a familiar face.

Hearing no voice,

I have no choice

but to close my eyes and sleep.

Saturday, January 16, 2021

Erddienst

We have a duty to the Earth,

and Her we shall serve,

as faithful daughters and sons,

for whatever our service is worth.

Sisters and brothers in all lands:

May the words of our mouth

be matched by the work of our hands.

Friday, January 15, 2021

You Can't See It

You can't see it on the paper

or hear it in your ear,

but I walk like an old man,

because I AM an old man,

and I don't want to fall

at all.

I could walk, perhaps, for miles,

but not on these slippery tiles

that catch the edge of my shoe.

Yesterday, a crazy old man

in a grocery store lot,

told me that he was just

a crazy old man.

Smiling behind my mask,

I said, "me too."

Friday, January 8, 2021

Nudity: A Human Right

Consciousness

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

103,000 Visits, Two Sanskrit Singers, and One Re-post

Yes, that's right--it was just five days ago that we passed the milestone of 102,000 visits to this blog. We received more than 900 visits over night, and as I write this the total is 103,627. Pirate activity is at a fever pitch, but I don't want to waste my time talking about it.

Recently, I re-posted something that I originally published on Oct. 1 2020. I consider it to be one of my most significant posts, and the re-post was very well received. So guess what? I'm publishing it again, right here, right now:

Journal of a Naked Poet XXVI - My Truth

As Nagna has said, truth is not always popular. Here's mine anyway, for whatever it's worth.

I believe that I have lived many lives. I have lived with evidence of this throughout this current life.

I believe that the "spiritual" or "conscious" part of us survives physical death. There is also a lot of evidence for this. I do not say that we have "an immortal soul," which would be putting the cart before the horse. I say, rather, that we are multidimensional beings, living simultaneously on several different levels or planes (which in Hinduism would be called "worlds"). But those other planes do not depend on the body; it is, rather, the other way around. Everything is consciousness, and that consciousness continues.

When the body becomes non-functional, one of the planes, the physical one, becomes vacant. Sooner or later, the body will be replaced with a new one, so that the set of planes will again be complete. This is my view concerning what people commonly call "reincarnation."

This world, as physicists have discovered (rediscovered?) is an illusion. What really exists is only consciousness (or Consciousness).

Within that Consciousness, each of us is a multidimensional energy-personality-essence. Thus, I am one with my previous-life "selves," and we can communicate. We can do this in "real time" because in reality there is no time--it, too is an illusion. Distance does not matter either, as has been proven in the case of telepathy, because space is also an illusion. There is only Consciousness.

Since there is only Consciousness, we are all, in reality, One. As the song says, "One Heart, One Mind, One Love." It is only the realization of this that is difficult, and that is because of the illusion.

Some of you may have noticed that I recently published YouTube links to two versions of Shankara's Brahma Jñanavali. The first was sung by Aparna Panshikar and accompanied by some nice sarod music.

The second, part of the Gaiea Sanskrit series, is sung by Gabriella Burnel, a British woman whose pronunciation of Sanskrit is phenomenally good. I recommend both versions highly.

As usual, thanks to all of you for your continued interest and enthusiasm. I wish all of you a great 2021.

Monday, January 4, 2021

Journal of a Naked Poet XXVI - My Truth (re-post)